New Campaign Announced: We Are African Americans for Humanism

Today I’m proud to announce the new African Americans for Humanism campaign, just in time for Black History Month!

Billboards and transit shelter ads featuring historic and contemporary black humanists are going up—in black neighborhoods!—in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington DC, and Durham NC. The ads highlight historic black humanists Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as eight contemporary activists and organizers representing local AAH-affiliated groups in each city.

Executing a campaign of this size means that there are a LOT of people involved. I’ll take a quick moment to highlight and thank the eight representatives whose faces are on these ads in the different cities: Jamila Bey (AAH–DC), Leighann Lord (CFI–Harlem), Sikivu Hutchinson (Black Skeptics LA), Alix Jules (Dallas–Ft. Worth Coalition of Reason Diversity Council), Mark Hatcher (Secular Students at Howard University), Mandisa Thomas (Black Nonbelievers of Atlanta), Kimberly Veal (Black Nonbelievers of Chicago), and Veronique Matthews (Triangle Freethought Society in Durham). Props to the fact that they’re willing to put themselves out there and be spokespersons for this.

Also a great big thanks to the Stiefel Freethought Foundation for considering this outreach important and for providing creative and financial support. I don’t think any secular organization has done a simultaneous ad campaign this big before, and some people question whether it’s worthwhile to focus on promoting our message to the black community—then wonder why we don’t have people of color at our conferences and events. Without support from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, this could not have happened.

I think we might have just hit the front page of Reddit, and e-mails are starting to come in, so I have to wrap this up. I hope you check out the new website, watch the videos, and get to know us!